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State plans to sell DNR-owned garage in North Bend

Governor Christine Gregoire's goal of raising $86 million by selling 10 surplus state properties in the next two years will have an effect in North Bend. One of the properties proposed for sale is still in use, a garage and lot at 201 E. 2nd Street.

"There's no one that works there," said Doug McClelland, South Puget Sound Region Representative with the Department of Natural Resources, which owns the building. "It's all storage of equipment and materials."

DNR staff in North Bend work out of office space leased from the U.S. Forest Service, at 1531 Bendigo Boulevard.

The garage houses the DNR's fire-fighting and timber-management equipment, tools, signs, excavators, and other items. It also holds recreational equipment for the Mountains to Sound Greenway program, and equipment for the non-profit Washington Trails Association. According to DNR Right-of-Way Manager for the South Puget Sound area Daniel Eide, the DNR also leases parking space on the lot.

When the building is sold, all of its contents will be moved out to new homes.

"We will have to locate other storage for the recreational materials, possibly at the Forest Service, and there will probably be a fee," McClelland said.

Also, "the WTA would have to find another location, and our fire equipment would have to go somewhere else."

Sale of the garage and other surplus state properties is still in the planning phase, and the state must first offer the properties to other government agencies before opening the sale to all buyers. Nothing needs to be relocated yet, and it probably won't for some time, because of that

"We'll still be using that building, until it gets sold," said Kelly Heintz, natural areas manager for the DNR. "It's a prime location.

Heintz doesn't think the sale and relocation of equipment will be a problem.

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